The Things of God: Living His Love

Devotional

Day 1: The Mask That Reveals God’s Likeness

When Jesus held the denarius, He revealed how Caesar’s image points to earthly authority—but God’s image is stamped on human lives. Just as coins bear their maker’s mark, you carry the divine imprint: created, claimed, and redeemed. Baptism declares God’s name over you, not as a disguise but as your truest identity. To live unmasked is to reflect His love in ordinary acts—dishes, leaves, lunches—where others glimpse His face. [36:47]

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
(Genesis 1:27, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you worn a mask to hide God’s image in you? How might folding laundry or listening to a neighbor this week reveal His likeness?

Day 2: Caesar’s Coin and God’s Claim

The Pharisees thought taxes trapped Jesus in politics, but He reframed ownership: Caesar’s face on a coin meant little compared to God’s face mirrored in humanity. Jesus’ answer exposed their malice while affirming sacred worth. Every person—even adversaries—bears God’s inscription. To “render to God” begins by seeing His claim on all He made. [31:00]

They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
(Matthew 22:21, ESV)

Reflection: When has someone’s political stance or difference made you forget they bear God’s image? How will you honor His claim on them today?

Day 3: The Cross as God’s Final Inscription

Pilate’s sign—“King of the Jews”—mocked Jesus but declared eternal truth. The cross, where God’s image hung broken, became His ultimate inscription: love poured out. Resurrection completed the message—death’s mask shattered, life restored. To give God what is His means receiving this love first, then living as Easter people. [34:41]

And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
(Matthew 27:37, ESV)

Reflection: What shame or failure feels “written over” your life? How does Jesus’ cross rewrite your story as His redeemed?

Day 4: Mirrors, Not Masks

Adam’s creation and your baptism share this truth: you are a mirror, not a mask. God shaped you to reflect His creativity, justice, and care. Hiding this behind fear or pretense distorts His design. Yet grace polishes the mirror—not by your effort, but through Christ’s sacrifice. [36:25]

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:10, ESV)

Reflection: What part of your “mirror” feels tarnished? How might trusting God’s workmanship free you to reflect Him without pretense?

Day 5: Love as the Unmasked Life

Jesus reduced the Law to love—not rules to follow but a posture to inhabit. Loving God and neighbor isn’t a performance; it’s the overflow of being fully seen and fully loved. When you pack lunches or rake leaves unmasked, you become a sacrament—ordinary moments revealing divine love. [42:51]

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart… and your neighbor as yourself.”
(Matthew 22:37–39, ESV)

Reflection: What mundane task this week could become an act of worship if done with love? Who needs to glimpse God’s care through your unmasked hands?

Sermon Summary

Matthew 22 places Jesus in the middle of a trap. The question about paying taxes comes with evil intent, not an honest desire to know what God wants. Matthew brings together Pharisees and Herodians, people who would not normally get along, in their effort to catch Jesus. Jesus knows their malice and asks for a denarius. His question is simple: Whose picture and whose words are on it?

Jesus tells them to give Caesar back what belongs to Caesar. But Jesus does not stop there: “Give back to God the things that are God’s.” That command turns a question about taxes into a question about belonging. What are God’s things? And how do those things get given back to him?

The image and inscription on the coin provide a way into those questions. God shows what he looks like in Jesus, the eternal Son who has become human. The inscription above Jesus on the cross reads, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” Jesus, suffering beneath those words, shows God’s love at the very place where God gives himself for his people. His death brings forgiveness, and his resurrection brings life to all who believe.

Genesis supplies another place to look for God’s image: not a coin, but a mirror. God made human beings in his image and likeness. God also places his name on his people in baptism, claiming them as his children. God’s creation belongs to him, and his people bear both his likeness and his name. His love is not just a claim over them; his love has brought him to the cross for them.

Jesus’ command to love God and love the neighbor shows what giving back to God looks like. God’s law describes how he designed life to work, the way of living in which his creation thrives. Love for God and care for others return to God what already belongs to him.

The image of a mask now takes a different shape. A mask can hide what is really there, but the “masks of God” show something true. God makes his love visible through ordinary care: dishes washed when everyone is exhausted, leaves cleared from a neighbor’s yard, a child’s lunch packed. Such service does not create belonging to God. Such service expresses the identity God has already given through creation, baptism, and Christ’s redeeming love.

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[27:15] - Masks That Hide and Reveal
[28:28] - A Question Meant to Trap Jesus
[30:41] - Caesar’s Coin and God’s Things
[32:42] - God Reveals Himself in Jesus
[34:30] - The Inscription Above the Cross
[36:06] - God’s Image and Baptismal Name
[38:32] - Giving Back What Belongs to God
[39:51] - Loving God and Loving Others
[41:55] - The Masks of God in Ordinary Life

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 22:15-22
“Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.” [28:36]

Genesis 1:26-27
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” [36:21]

Matthew 22:36-40
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” [39:51]

Observation questions

In Matthew 22:15–22, what details show that the question about taxes was a trap rather than an honest request for guidance? [28:43]
What two features of the denarius does Jesus draw attention to, and how does his answer move the conversation beyond paying taxes? [30:49]
How are being made in God’s image and receiving God’s name in baptism connected to belonging to him? [36:32]
In Matthew 22:36–40, what two commands does Jesus bring together, and what place does he give them in relation to the rest of God’s commands?

Interpretation questions

How does Genesis 1:26–27 help explain why giving God what belongs to him involves a person’s whole life, not just money? [37:30]
What does Jesus’ death and resurrection reveal about God’s claim on people that the image of a ruler on a coin cannot show? [34:41]
Why does it matter that God claims his people before they serve others? How would reversing that order change a person’s reasons for serving? [41:17]
How can an ordinary act, such as washing dishes or helping a neighbor with yard work, be a way of loving God rather than merely completing a chore? [43:22]

Application questions

Think about your schedule or spending over the past week. Where do you find it hardest to remember that you—not just your money—belong to God? What might acknowledging his claim look like in that area? [38:26]
When you feel that you have failed God or someone else, what do you tend to do next? How might Christ’s forgiveness and God’s claim on you in baptism help you respond without trying to earn back his love? [44:37]
Who is someone you struggle to treat with patience or respect? How might remembering that this person bears God’s image change your next conversation with them? [37:49]
When has someone’s quiet, practical care helped you experience God’s love? What did that person notice about your needs that others might have missed? [42:29]
Is there an ordinary responsibility at home, at work, or in your neighborhood that you have begun to resent? What might change if you saw it as an opportunity to care for someone God loves? [43:22]
As you think about the coming week, whose burden might you be able to lighten through one small act of service? What would help you offer that care freely, without needing recognition? [43:37]

Sermon Clips

34s

#ChildOfGod

“You are loved. You are created in God's image after his likeness. You have received God's name. He places his name on you. He loves you so much that he has come and died for you. So as we receive this, as we know that we are the things of God, then we also give back, give back who we are as God's people, and love and care for those around us.”

40s

#LoveLikeJesus

“You see, God has created you. He has made you in his image. He has claimed you as his own. He has put his name on you. He has redeemed with his own sacrifice on the cross. God's love for you is great. And so as we live in this creation and how God has designed it, that means that we live in love toward God, and love and care for those around us.”

62s

#MadeInGodsImage

“So if we're looking for the likeness and inscription of God, yes, we see that in Jesus, but but we see it elsewhere. And we don't use a coin to find it. We use a mirror. So we can look and see that in ourselves. See humans, people, you are made in God's image. look like And God has placed his name on you. In baptism, we saw that happen this morning. God has places his name on us, his inscription on us. He claims us as his people, as his children. A powerful act of love.”

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Pilgrim Lutheran Church & School This sermon · AI assistant

What does Caesar’s coin teach about belonging to God?

Where do God’s image and name appear in human life?

How can ordinary service make God visible to others?